LOCATION DETAILS: K.M. 3 on St.Leon forest service rd at the hot springs pool ,fifty feet up the bank from pool.

NEAREST TOWN: Nakusp

NEAREST ROAD: Nakusp to Galena bay ferry

OBSERVED: Myself and three other people were at St.leon hotsprings just north of Nakusp B.C. on Thanksgiving day 1993. Its a natural,undeveloped spring. Basically a small pool in the forest about 3 km from the main hi-way. As we were leaving the pool about 11;30 p.m. we were walking single file up the steep incline back towards the truck when myself and the other male member of the group heard what we assumed to be a bear approximately 25 to 30 feet to our left. Not wanting the girls to panic we quietly decided not to tell them and just keep walking to the vehicle.

The brush off of the trail is fairly thick and would be extremely difficult to get through for a man but what we were hearing seemed to be moving faily easily through it and keeping up with our stride. As this was a spur of the moment trip we had no flash light but had a couple of emergency candles one of which I was holding up high at the back of the line with a relector behind it so we could see where we were going but unfortunately did not cast the light far enough to see what was in the bush along side us.

At this point the girls could hear branches snapping in the bush and inquired what it was. We answered it's "probably just a bear". As soon as I made that statement a "wail" like I have never heard before came from the direction of what we figured was the bear. I've spent a lot of time in the bush and there is no animal that makes a noise like that in that forest!

The closest thing I can compare it to is a peacock call, but it was at such a high decible it actually made our ears vibrate. Like when your in front of a stack of ampliphyers at a concert.Then whatever it was turned and ran very quickly down the hill through the bush away from us. the thing was you could hear that whatever this animal was it was obviously on two legs not four! And htere is no way a man could run through that thick bush that quickly.

It scared us all and we ran to the truck and got in. Funny thing was we all immediately knew what we had just experienced but were all reluctant to say what we each thought it was.But we finally did and all agreed we had just heard a sasquatch.

I went back the next day and in the mud around the hot springs there were numerous prints VERY large and man like. I had no tape measure and no plaster, but they were there.

OTHER WITNESSES: four witnesses In hot springs

OTHER STORIES: Yes, other people have heard the same thing and other people have visually sighted them.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 11:30 p.m.

ENVIRONMENT: Douglass fir canopy ,steep hill ,3-4 ft brush

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Blaine McMillan :

I spoke to Don for about a half an hour on the phone. He was very factual and had a very clear recall of the events that had taken place in 1993. He told me how he and three of his friends had gone to this undeveloped natural hotspring near the town of Nakusp and after several hours of relaxing in the mineral pool they proceeded to go back to their vehicle. At this point it was approximately 11:30 pm. While enroute they heard something that was keeping pace with them about 10 metres to their left hand side. They all believed that they were being followed by a bear until a loud vocalization was heard. Don, the witness, described the sound like that of a peacock but with much more power and intensity. He also said that he has identified the sound he heard as being similar to several supected sasquatch vocalizations that were replayed on a television programme.

Immediately after the scream all four members of the group heard something large and bipedal run down the hill towards the river. The witnesses quickly returned to their vehicle and departed the area. Don returned to the site of the incident the next day and discovered a large number of human like footprints that, because of their sheer size, were quite distinguishable from those left by his group the night before. Unfortunately, he did not have a camera or casting material to document the prints.

The town of Nakusp is located on the northeastern shore of the Upper Arrow Lake. The area very rugged and sparsely populated. It is renowned for its numerous hotsprings some of which have been commercialized while others are known only to the locals.